PPH dispute resolution process - pro-buyer
Submitted an initial proposal for 1-hour of my time which the client accepted and paid deposit in full. I provided the client with advice, including request for further information - I received a PDF attachment containing letters and various emails.
Following receipt of further information from the client, the client and I agreed to increase to 2-hours of my time so I sent another proposal for acceptance. Without communication, the client rejected the proposal and sought refund for the original 1-hour despite having spent time in dealing with the client's matter.
When I sought to reject the refund I was requested to pay a fee to raise a dispute! I have attempted to reach out to the client for his reasons for terminating the job in breach of contract. I have not had any reply from him.
PPH terms and conditions is clear that fees are based on time spent but this seems somewhat inconsistent with their policy on refunds. I do not see how PPH can levy a fee for providing a dispute resolution process when they appear not qualified to do so. More importantly, they are not impartial by any degree when actively acting as agent.
I emailed PPH support my disgust with their levy of a dispute fee but no response whatsoever. Instead, they refunded the client in full without any recourse to me!
As a result of this, my profile scoring has been affected through no fault of my own. PPH need to start appreciating the skills I offer that generate commission or I will go elsewhere.
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Official comment
Hello Jonathan
Thank you for your message.
I have gone over the workstream you have with user "Greg R." and I can see that the refund was processed automatically because you did not take any action, e.g. dispute it, within 3 working days. As per our T&Cs, if the Seller does not respond to a Refund Request within three (3) working days (a “non-actioned” Refund Request) then PPH may release the funds automatically back to the Buyer.
Please let me know if you have any further questions or if there is anything else that I can help you with.
Thank you very much and I hope you have a great day.
Kind regards,Comment actions -
Issuing automated refunds after 3-days goes against the spirit of goof dispute resolution practice because there is not enough time for parties to agree. I had sent a message to the buyer immediately on receipt of their request for a refund but I did not get any reply. It should be made absolutely clear that the seller has 3-working days to agree or disagree to the refund request.
It is quite unfair for the seller to be responsible for the "dispute fee" in all cases, including unreasonable cases where work or time has been spent as per your terms and conditions. It is also unfair for PPH to levy a fee for providing a "dispute resolution service" when unqualified or inexperienced to do so.
It is abundantly clear that PPH is pro-buyer with complete disregard for sellers that drive your commission revenue.
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Hello,
I have a similar issue and am very upset about the resolution decision to refund the buyer when the scope was expanded AFTER I completed the work. The client mentioned that they wanted to place the research results on their website, but did not specify that they products needed to be fully integrated into their website until AFTER I provided the client with the product links.
The buyer listed this as a research project for psychology tests and once I did the research, reading all terms and agreements, making sure that they were able to place the links to the tests on their website, they then requested to FULLY integrate the tests on their website. This "job" only paid 20 pounds total. What they expanded the scope to, included technical work and knowledge that I have, but was not included in the scope NOR the price.
This client is possibly doing this to other freelancers and gaining the links to the tests that they need and will probably have fully integrated into their site by submitting a request for technical work, but these work-arounds that buyers are using to expand the scope is completely unethical.
Where is the protection for sellers against scope creep? Even though the revenue amount is low, I did the work and want my 20 pounds. Thank you!
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